Climate change and migration are drawing increasing interest from researchers and policy makers, as well as from the general public. Much attention has been given to climate change as a push factor contributing to migration, and to the potential conflicts and humanitarian crises that may result.

The TransRe project offers a fresh perspective on the environment-migration nexus. It starts from the assumption that, regardless of the accuracy of the projections of future environmental changes, migration is already occurring and will continue to be a major dynamic of global change. Migration is connecting people, transforming places, and facilitating flows of knowledge and resources, and thus creating networked and interconnected translocal spaces. Through this intensifying translocal connectedness, the ability of households and communities to respond to climatic risks and sustain their livelihoods and well-being – that is, their social resilience – has the potential to be strengthened. Our project focuses on resource-dependent households and rural communities that are particularly vulnerable to climate-related risks. We seek to decipher the relations between migration, translocality and social resilience to climate change. Our research design follows place-based as well as multi-sited fieldwork approaches and seeks to generate empirical evidence based on case studies carried out in Thailand and in the places of destination of migrants. The research will focus on the following areas:

Our project in short
Our project in-depth (video)
Our project in-depth (working paper)

Beyond Science

Our objective is to be relevant beyond the academic sphere. Given this, bridging the science-practice gap is an essential goal. In collaboration with the Raks Thai Foundation, a member of CARE International, our project will implement pilot projects aimed at resilience-building in translocal communities. We will also develop a toolkit for policymakers and practitioners, which will guide the integration of migration-based social resilience support into community development and climate change adaptation plans and policies. Furthermore, we seek to disseminate our findings not only to the scientific community, but also to a broader audience of policymakers and practitioners using a combination of resources (scientific papers, fact sheets, working papers, social media, blogging, filming etc.). Communication of our findings to relevant policymakers on both the national and international level will be ensured through collaboration with other partners, such as UNU-EHS, IOM Thailand, DIE, NGOs, and other high-level contacts with policymakers in Thailand.

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